Especially if you're GOP Assembly candidates Joseph Borelli and Sam Pirozzolo, who have plastered the South Shore and Mid-Island, respectively, with campaign signs to highlight their first-time candidacies.

In putting up their signs early, the two have gotten a head start on other candidates running in this year's races.

But is the road to victory paved with campaign signs?

Opinions differ, with a top borough Democrat saying it's "ridiculous" to have signs up this early.

Pirozzolo and Borelli said they've spent about $4,000 in campaign funds on signs so far.

Pirozzolo, head of the Community Education Council, said he's put up the signs for the obvious reason: To generate name recognition in his race against his better-known opponent, Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island).

"It's letting people know who I am," said Pirozzolo, who estimates that he's put up 100 signs so far.

Pirozzolo's method is simple: He drives around neighborhoods with a bunch of signs in his vehicle, ringing doorbells, talking about his campaign, and asking if he can put a sign on the homeowners' lawn.

Pirozzolo said the vast majority of homeowners agree, and that 95 percent of his signs are at homes where he didn't know the people previously.

Pirozzolo believes the contact is helping him build support; if someone agrees to take a sign after hearing his pitch, Pirozzolo said, "That is the equivalent of a vote."

Borelli, chief of staff to City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), said putting up signs also helps when it comes to gathering petition signatures to get on the ballot later in the campaign season. The signs make voters familiar with your name before you ask for their signature.

"You need to make a name for yourself," said Borelli, who is running against Democratic attorney Anthony Mascolo. "It's a good show of grassroots support."

And putting up signs is a lot cheaper than paying for a television ad. The signs also reach a targeted audience in the community where the candidate is running. Borelli said he's put up around 300 signs so far.

Cusick hasn't put up his signs yet.

"I never know if they work or not," he said when asked if signs help build support. "I've never taken a poll."

But Cusick said he doesn't feel threatened by the fact that Pirozzolo has his signs up already.

"We have our own timeline for our campaign," he said. "Our signs will be up soon."

Former Borough President Guy Molinari, who is overseeing the fall campaigns for the GOP, said the earlier that unknown candidates get their signs up, the better.

He said that that approach worked during the 2010 House race, when unknown Michael Grimm defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Michael McMahon.

"Grimm's signs went out in February," Molinari said. "People said it was too early. But everyone knew the name by the time the campaign got serious. It achieves a goal when you don't have name recognition."

And those little yellow signs about property taxes that Grimm used against McMahon also had an impact.

"Absolutely," said Molinari.

But Kevin Elkins, deputy executive director of the borough Democratic Party, said that it's "way too early" to put up signs.

"It's ridiculous," he said.

No Democratic candidates have made a big push to put signs up yet, according to Elkins.

Elkins said that any signs put up now will "blend into the background" before too long and become all but invisible.

The wind and rain will also do damage, and vandals will make off with their share, as they do every year.

"God bless 'em," he said of Pirozzolo and Borelli. "They're going to spend another four grand to replace them."

GOP consultant Gerry O'Brien said signs are of limited use, even in terms of building name recognition.

"They don't really do anything to move a voter into one camp or the other," he said. "There's no correlation between the number of lawn signs you have up and the number of people who will vote for you."

But he admitted that seeing their name out there does give some candidates "a warm and fuzzy" feeling about their campaigns.

And just because a homeowner agrees to display a sign doesn't mean they will vote for you, he noted. Some take the sign out of mere politeness.

"They feel like you've put them on the spot," said O'Brien, a Broooklynite who is not working on any Island campaigns this year. "They don't want to be rude."

O'Brien said candidates should concentrate first on their direct mail effort, where pieces of campaign literature on various issues hit voters directly in their homes over the course of the campaign.

"It's more about getting your message out to your targeted audience," he said "If there's any money left over after that, then you can do lawn signs."